Compete in our first ever, take-home book and trivia based challenge the entire month of February! Within your log, there are five games worth 20 points each.

Try and complete each game to earn 100 points. Olympians who earn 80 points of higher will be entered into a drawing to win a gold medal prize! Any Olympian who earns 20 points or higher will receive a “I Love to Read” Bracelet!

Logs are due February 28th. Click here to print your log! 

​Awake: Durga Ma's Natural Meditation Workshop
Part I, Thursday, Jan. 18th at 6:30
Part II, Thursday, Jan. 25th at 6:30
Registration begins Jan. 2nd
Held in the Program Room
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You don't have to live with physical-mental-emotional pain and stress. Are you ready to experience more peace and happiness in your daily life and have fun doing it? This class is for people who are interested in knowing the science behind meditation and implementing a regular daily practice successfully, but who struggle with finding the time or the discipline to make it stick. Anandi Kristine is a certified meditation & spiritual science teacher.

Register Today!

Tuesdays at Two: American Through Film

Join us as we celebrate our history through a captivating and educational PBS film series. Participants are welcome to bring lunch or a snack and sit back and relax.  Registration begins the first of each month. Sponsored by the Marion Wm. & Alice Edwards Fund, a fund of Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation. 
 
The Race Underground (1 hour)
Tuesday, January 9th at 2:00-3:00
In the late 19th century, as America's teeming cities grew increasingly congested, the time had come to replace the nostalgic horse-drawn trolleys with a faster, cleaner, safer, and more efficient form of transportation. Based in part on Doug Most's acclaimed non-fiction book of the same name.
 
Jackie Robinson (4 Hours)
Tuesday, February 13th at 2:00-4:00 Part I
Tuesday, February 20th at 2:00-4:00 Part II
JACKIE ROBINSON rose from humble origins to cross baseball's color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for "turning the other cheek." "Jackie Robinson," Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.
 
The Dust Bowl (4 hours)
Tuesday, March 13th at 2:00-4:00  Part I
Tuesday, March 20th at 2:00-4:00  Part II
THE DUST BOWL chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, when a frenzied wheat boom on the southern Plains, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. Menacing black blizzards killed farmers' crops and livestock, threatened the lives of their children, and forced thousands of desperate families to pick up and move somewhere else. Vivid interviews with more than two dozen survivors of those hard times, combined with dramatic photographs and seldom seen movie footage, bring to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible human perseverance. 
 
The Talk: Race in America (2 hours)
Tuesday, April 10th at 2:00-4:00
The Talk: Race in America documents the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police. In many homes, "The Talk," as it is called, usually contains phrases like this: If you are stopped by the police: Always answer 'yes sir, no sir'; never talk back; don't make any sudden movements; don't put your hands in your pockets. A diverse set of filmmakers speak to parents, children, family members, academics, police force members, and community activists, to illustrate the issue from multiple points of view and bring the discussion out of the kitchens and living rooms and into the public sphere. 
 
The Mine Wars (2 Hours)
Tuesday, May 8th at 2:00-4:00
At the beginning of the 20th century, coal was the engine of American industrial progress. Nearly three quarters of a million men across the country spent ten or twelve hours a day underground in coal mines. The Mine Wars brings to life the struggle that turned the coalfields of southern West Virginia into a blood-soaked war zone where basic constitutional rights and freedoms were violently contested.
 
Projections of America (1 hour)
Tuesday, June 12th at 2:00-3:00
During the darkest hour of the WWII, a team of idealistic filmmakers hoped the power of the movies could reshape the world. Led by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin, the filmmakers created 26 short documentaries about American life shown to millions of people around the world. The "Projections of America" films told stories of cowboys and oilmen, farmers and window washers, immigrants and school children, capturing the optimism and messiness of American democracy. The gorgeously crafted films were idealized versions of what America could be. 

Secrets of the Dead: Jamestown’s Dark Winter (1 hour)
Tuesday, July 10h at 2:00-3:00
A team of archaeologists excavating the site of an early American colony discovers something surprising: the remains of a young woman, dating back to 1609, buried in the trash layer of a cellar. Now, 400 years later, a cellar excavation has uncovered numerous bone fragments - all belonging to this adolescent female.
 
Lennon NYC (1.5 hours)
Tuesday, August 14th at 2:00-3:30
Following the breakup of the Beatles, the film follows John Lennon and Yoko Ono as they moved to Manhattan in 1971, where Lennon sought to escape the mayhem of the Beatles era and focus on his family and private life. LENNONYC features never-before heard studio recordings and never-before-seen outtakes from Lennon in concert and home movies that have only recently been transferred to video. It also features exclusive interviews with Yoko Ono, as well as with artists who worked closely with Lennon during this period, including Elton John and photographer Bob Gruen.
 
A Class Apart (1 hour)
Tuesday, September 11th at 2:00-3:00
Built around the landmark 1954 legal case Hernandez v. Texas, the film interweaves the stories of its central characters with a broader story of the civil rights movement. It also brings to life the heroic post-World War II struggle of Mexican Americans fighting to dismantle the discrimination targeted against them.
 
The Italian Americans (4 Hours)
Tuesday, October 9th at 2:00-4:00  Part I
Tuesday, October 16th at 2:00-4:00 Part II
The Italian Americans reveals the unique and distinctive qualities of one immigrant group's experience, and how these qualities, over time, have shaped and challenged America. At the turn of the 20th century, many Italians immigrants came to work, earn money to support their families, and eventually return home. Nearly half of the first generation Italian immigrants did return to Italy, but for those that made America home, their struggle to maintain a distinct Italian culture was guided by remarkably powerful ideals of family that had always been at the center of their lives. While the power of the Italian family became a source of strength, it also bred suspicion, popularized in popular media as a dark, criminal element. This clash of culture echoed through generations of Italian Americans as they entered positions of political, social, and cultural influence. 
 
The Pilgrims (2 hours)
Tuesday, November 13th at 2:00-4:00
The Pilgrims' narrative has been shrouded in myth, embedded in Thanksgiving Day feasts, football, and parades. Who were the men and women who constituted this band of English Protestants whom we call "the Pilgrims"?
 

From Hula Hoops to High Fashion: G. Fox in the 1950s
Thursday, Jan. 11 at 6:30pm
Registration begins Jan. 2nd
Held in the Community Room

In the 1950s, just about every major city had a landmark department store. In Connecticut, it was G. Fox & Co in Hartford! This presentation will bring you back in time to Fox’s heyday as we go from floor to floor and recall departments ranging from accessories on the “street” floor, to designer dresses on 6, and ending at Toyland on 11.
 
Register today!

Know Your Options!  Learn About Access Health CT at the Library on December 14th from 4:00-7:00pm. No registration is necessary.
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If you need health insurance, time is running out to enroll for coverage for 2018 through AccessHealthCT.com.  The deadline for the open enrollment period is December 22, 2017. ​

Health insurance is important:  it covers check-ups and other routine care that can keep people healthy.  It provides financial protection against huge medical bills if something unexpected happens – like getting in a car accident or getting sick.  Having health insurance coverage brings peace of mind.  And financial help to make it more affordable for people who qualify is available only through AccessHealthCT.com. 

Close But Not Touching
RESCHEDULED TO THURSDAY, JANUARY 18 at 6:30
Registration begins Dec. 15th
Held in the Program Room
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Jean Sands began working on Close But Not Touching right after she published her first book of poetry, Gandy Dancing, in 2009. By 2012, the manuscript was 90 percent complete. That’s when her failing health began to drain her creative energies and she put the project aside. After Jean died, her husband, Jack Sheedy retrieved the manuscript from her computer and enlisted the aid of her longtime friend and fellow poet, Cortney Davis. Cortney assisted Jack with sequencing and proofreading the poems. Join Jack as he reads from Jean’s book and also talks about the woman and poet her knew and loved.
 
​Register today!